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AUSTIN, TEXAS 

BEN C. JONES AND COMPANY 

1901 

V. 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Coptea Received 

SEP. 21 1901 

COPVRIQHT ENTRY 

CLASS ^^XXc. N<d 

/7oy(o 
COPY a 



PREFACE. 



I have tried in these pages to present some facts 
in Texas History which would he interesting to 
children in the Second Grade. Every child should 
read History Stories at an early age, because they 
have great value in forming the character of the 
young. Children love the marvelous in Fables and 
Fairy Stories, but they often ask, "Is that story 
sure enough?*- which shows that they thirst for 
the truth. 

Every teacher believes that the way to fix His- 
tory and Geography in the mind is to carry on the 
study of them at the same time. The Geography 
questions at the end of some of the stories are 
merely suggestive. The teacher can furnish many 
more, so that a child can gain much information 
about his own State. 

I desire to express my thanks to Mr. Sowell for 
the use of cuts from his book on Texas Indian 
Fighters, and for material for Indian stories; and 
to Mr. Sterling Fulmore for the designs for the 
other cuts and for the cover; to Judge Raines for 
assistance ; and to the State Library, which is rich 



11 PREFACE. 

in valuable and interesting works on Texas His- 
tory. I have used also as aids Thrairs History 
and Wooten's History, and Under Six Flags. I 
am indebted to Miss Jessie Sayers for the poems 
entitled The Land We Love, The Bonnie Blue 
Flag, and Texas, Name to Us So Dear. 

Austin, Texas, August 23, 1901. 



CONTENCS. 



Texas 1 

Air of Dixie 1 

The Happy Hunting Ground 1 

The Horned Frog 3 

The Rabbit 4 

The Wolf chat Ate Little Red Riding-hood .... 5 

The Land of Tent? 6 

Indians '^ 

Bows and Arrows 10 

Big Foot 13 

^'Big Foot'^ Wallace 15 

Wallace's Dogs 18 

Cynthia Ann Parker 19 

Iron Jacket . . . . • 23 

Putnam Children 24 

What the Indians Thought of Red Hair 26 

Bowie's Brother's Indian Fight. 1 27 

Bowie's Brother's Indian Fight. II 30 

Bowie's Brother's Indian Fight. Ill 31 

Black Jim Bowie 32 

La Salle 35 

Bean 38 

A Bold Pirate 40 



IV CONT^BNTS. 

The Treasure 43 

The Father of Texas 44 

How the First Texaiis Lived 46 

Austin in Mexico . 48 

The War 50 

Battle Hymn 51 

The First Battle 52 

Milam a Prisoner in Mexico 53 

ConcejDcion 54 

The Grass Fight 55 

Ben Milam 58 

Independence Day 60 

The Twin Sisters 61 

The Great Hunter 62 

The Texas Spy 63 

The Indian Fighter 63 

The Flag 64 

Travis' Letter from the Alamo 65 

The Fall of the Alamo. 1 66 

The Fall of the Alamo. II (TS 

A Brave Boy 70 

Fannin 71 

The Runaways 'f4 

Burning of Gonzales 76 

San Jacinto. 1 77 

San Jacinto. II 78 

San Jacinto. Ill 79 

A Great Man 82 



CONTENTS. V 

A Letter from Houston 84 

Bonnie Blue Flag 86 

Texas \'. 87 

The War Without Any Blood 88 

The Cart War 88 

The Black and White Beans 89 

Drawing Beans . 91 

Prisoners 94 

Wallace a Prisoner in Mexico . 94 

The Texas Seal 97 

A Texas Norther 98 

The Blue and the Gray 98 

Young Sidney Sherman 101 

The First Railroad in Texas 1(J2 

A True Soldier 103 

Death of Albert Sidney Johnston 103 

The Land We Love 105 



TEXAS. 

Above, above such skies of blue, 

Below, below such flower-sown sod, 

While ever and ever between the two 
Go the wonderful winds of God, 

AIR OF DIXIE. 

Texas is the land for me; 

On a winter morning the wind blows free; 

Away, boys, away down South in Texas ! 

In Texas land where I was born in. 

Early one fine summer morning; 

Away, boys, away down South in Texas ! 

In the happy land of Texas, hurrah, hurrah ! 
In Texas land we^ll take our stand. 
And fight and die for Texas land, 
Hurrah, hurrah ! hurrah for the boys of Texas ! 



THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUND. 

A long time ago there was a tribe of Indians 
traveling. When they first set eyes on the rolling 

1— History 



)i FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

plains of Texas, decked with carpets of beautiful 
wild flowers and grass, the}^ called out, "Telias ! 
Tehas !" which means the Happy Hunting Ground. 
From that we took the name Texas. 

No wonder they liked it. Droves of wild horses 




HAPPY HUNTING GROUND. 

would snort and run out of sight when they came 
within a few hundred yards of them. Deer roamed 
the prairie in herds of hundreds. The deer were 
so tame that you could draw them to you by 
placing a red flag in the bushes. When one was 
shot the rest of the herd would run up and gather 
around him to see wliat was the matter. Black 
bear hid in the cane brake, Wolves howled. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 6 

The prairie was alive with buffalo, trampling 
morning, noon, and night, to drink at the river; 
wading, plunging, and snorting in the water; 
climbing the muddy shores, and staring with wild 
eyes at the passing canoes. The Indians could 
hide and shoot them as they came to drink. Some- 
times they killed twelve in three days, besides deer 
and geese. 

The music of little birds was sweetly rolling 
through the air, giving life to the country in 
which they lived. Quails lived here. There were 
many buzzards and sea birds near the Gulf. 

[Name ten birds and tell where you have seen 
them.] 



THE HOENED FROG. 

The horned frog is between the frog and the 
lizard. He is from three to five inches long. His 
feet are those of a lizard; his body, part frog and 
part lizard ; his tail, part lizard and part pollywog. 
His head has scales going up and back like horns ; 
two of them are longer than the rest. Two lines 
of horns go down his body. He is a dark gray, 
with white spots all over him. His eyes are black. 



4 FOOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 

like two bird-shots. His mouth is large, as if it 
might swallow you. 

He moves like a frog and a lizard, — a hop, skip, 
and crawl; mostly a crawl. 

If a frog was as big as an elephant, wouldn^t 
you be afraid of him? 

When you take him into your hands he looks 
at you Avith his little dark eyes, which seem to 
say, "I would not hurt you for the world V' 

You may turn him over and tickle him ever so 
much, yet he will keep his temper. Little children, 
don't you like to play with him? Did you ever 
drop him down the back of your waist, at the 
neck, that lie might tickle you as he crawls upward 
or downward on the naked flesh? 

Once a stranger was walking along, when out 
of the grass near by ran what he thought was a 
centipede, and he was afraid of it. He got a stick 
about ten feet long and mashed it. It was a 
horned frog. 

He is a pet with all who know him. He takes 
his meals on flies and tender grass, and his drink 
he gathers from the night dew. 

THE EABBIT. 

The rabbit is called mule-eared from his long 
ears. The ears are tipped with white, and while 



:^o6tprints of texas history. 5 

sitting still they keep them moving up and down, 
as the butterfly does his wings when sitting on a 
flower. 

Are rabbits not graceful and fast, and pretty 
to look upon as they bound away? They are so 
swift and strong that it is hard for any dog but 
the greyhound to catch them. 

If your dog Tray should see a rabbit jump up 
within ten feet of his nose, he would give a bark 
and bound after him. He would follow for 
awhile, then stop and look at the rabbit, drop his 
tail, hang his head, and come back. 



THE WOLF THAT ATE LITTLE RED 
EIDING-HOOD. 

Little boy and girl, it may be that the bad 0I4 
wolf that ate Little Riding-hood lived here in our 
forest. Maybe some Texas woodman came and 
killed him. He growled and tried to run away, 
but they caught him. Thus died the wicked old 
wolf who ate up Little Red Riding-hood, who 
;iYent to take her grandmamma a basket of fruit 
and cakes. Do you not think he was served right ? 

These wolves are called lobos or loafers. Their 



6 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

backs are curved like a hyena's. They carry their 
heads close to the ground, as if smelling for some- 
thing. They are as big as a large dog. Their hair 
is shaggy. Did you ever see one? 

[Name ten animals that live in Texas.] 



THE LAND OF TENTS. 

You like to go out camping for a few weeks 
every summer, don't you? But how would you 
like to live in a tent all the time ? That is the wav 




WIGWAMvS. 



FOOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 7 

the Indians lived. They called their tent a wig- 
wam. 

The wigwam is bufPalo skins sewed together and 
made into the form of a tent. The skins are held 
up by polos. Tlie women can take these tents 
down in a few minutes when they want to find a 
better hunting ground. If I were a hunter I 
think I would pitch my tent here in Texas. The 
prairie swarms with noisy wild fowl. Geese and 
other flocks fly here and there crying, "Conk, 
conk/' as they fly. Cranes, like armies, march 
over the plains. Prairie chickens rise on the wing. 
There are many blackbirds. 

[Draw a wigwam.] 



INDIANS. 

An Indian mamma tells her little boy : "If you 
go on the warpath, do not turn around when you 
have gone part way, but go on as far as you were 
going and then come back. I would not cry if I 
were to hear that you had been killed in battle." 
This is what makes a man to fight and to be brave. 
Love your friend and never desert him. 

Indians have odd names. Peace Maker, Skin 



8 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

Shirt, Dull Knife, and Lone Wolf are men's 
names. 

An Indian is quiet in peace; in war his eyes 
beam and he moves quickly. When they want to 




TEXAS RANGERS TRAILING INDIANS. 

make signs to eacli other across the prairie, they 
pile up wet and dry grass and set it afire. A 
smoke in a little while goes up into the air with 
a puff. 

When they come home from a l)uffalo hunt thev 



J'OOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 9 

have a dance. A fire is made in the center of a 
level piece of ground. Their faces and their bodies 
are painted. The chief dances up and down sing- 
ing to the music of a gourd filled with rocks ; then 
all join hands and dance around. They make 
gestures to show all that takes place in the chase, 
—the helter-skelter run after the game, firing of 
guns, bellowing and falling of bulls. At length 
all march around as if burdened with game. 

They wear strings of beads in their noses and 
ears. They hide their corn in holes in the ground. 
The red man thinks that a great spirit sits behind 
the clouds and watches over his arro'.vs as they 

fly. 

Indians are cruel. They hide for days to get a 
chance to attack a place. They are too fond of 
drinking; perhaps that is why God has let them be 
driven out from iheir hunting grounds. 

They do not wliip their children. If they do 
wrong, sometimes their mothers blacken their 
faces and send them out of the lodge. When this 
is done they can not eat until it is washed ofi"; at 
times they are kept a whole day in this way. They 
love their little children. The children are polite 
to their papas and mammas and all older people. 
The women have all the work to do. Indians can 
hear and see better than you can. The Texas 
Indians like to ride. They are good horsemen. 



lO FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



BOWS AND AEROWS. 

You know that the bows and arrows made by 
you boys are not very strong. They will not even 
kill a small animal. An Indian with his bow 
will send an arrow through a horse or a man. He 
sends his arrow at eighty yards into the heart or 
eye of his game, and with ease tips birds from the 
tops of the highest trees. 

The Indian boy's first lesson in life is to shoot 
with a bow. He is given a small bow with blunt 
arrows^ so he will hurt nobody, and with these he 
shoots at marks. 

By and by, when he has learned, he is given 
small arrow-points, and with these he shoots birds, 
squirrels, and small animals. As he grows older 
he is given the long bow, and at last the strong 
bow. 

Let me tell you how to make a good bow and 
arrow. First, we will begin with the arrow. The 
rods must be cut in the arrow season; that is, 
late in the fall when the wood is hard. They must 
be straight and smooth. 

The sticks are as thick as your little finger. 
They are two to two and a half feet long, wrapped 
with strips of rawhide or skin. This keeps them 
from bending. The sticks are then hung up over 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. ll 

the fire to be dried. After two weeks tlie bark is 
scraped off. The wood is then tough and of a yel- 
low color. Then they must be cut the sauie length. 
Each man has arrows of a different length. 

Then the notch is made for the bow-string. A 
little gutter is made in all arrows, to let the blood 
run out. 

The arrow-head is made of steel or stone. It is 
shaped like a heart and has a stem an inch long. 
The sides are cut out like saw teeth. The steel 
arrows are sold to the Indians for furs. 

The wood is wrapped firmly to the arrow-head 
with deer or buffalo skin, which has been made 
soft in water. 

Then tlie feathers are put on. They are pulled 
from the quill and put on the shaft of the arrow. 
Three feathers are put on each shaft. The arrow 
is painted and then it is ready for use. It takes 
an Indian a day to make an arrow for which he 
gets ten cents. 

Would you like to know how he poisons his 
arrows ? 

A rattlesnake is made to put his fangs into 
the liver of a deer while it is warm. The arrow 
heads are thrust into the liver and left there for 
half an hour, when they are drawn out and laid 
in the sun to dry. A thin yellow scum sticks to 
the arrow, and if it but so much as touches the 



12 FOOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 

skin it is certain to poison to death. The Indians 
carried these arrows in the skins of rattlesnakes, 
and they were very careful of them, but sometimes 
horses, dogs, and children would get them. So at 
last the Indians stopped using them. 

Years ago each Indian war party carried a liver 
wrapped in a piece of buckskin, and it, with many 
arrows, was packed on a pony called a "dead 
horse.^' 

The bow is four feet long and one and one-half 
inches wide. At one end the bow-string is 
notched into the wood and made fast, while at 
the other end two notches are cut in the wood, 
and the string at that end of the bow is made like 
a slip-knot or loop. 

When the bow is to be used, the man sets the 
end to which the string is made fast firmly on the 
ground, and then bends down the other end until 
the loop slips into the notch. This is called string- 
ing the bow. The bow is never kept strung except 
when in use. 

The wood used in making bows is ash, hickory, 
elm, and cedar. 

[Draw a bow and an arrow.] 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 13 



BIG FOOT. 

Big Foot was an Indian chief. This name was 
given to him because men could trace him by the 
size of his footprints. He was a Waco Indian. 
He used to go into a town and steal the horses. 

One time Captain Ross and three men were 
riding along, when they came to a hill on which 
there were some live-oak trees. Looking out over 
the country they saw Big Foot and four other 
Indians. Ross said: ^^A horseman comes this 
way riding like the wind ! He has turned ! How 
he rides ! See him wave his arms and hear him 
yell ! Let us overtake him !" Off they went and 
caught up with him. It had been raining for 
days and both guns and bow-strings were wet. 
They fought with guns and knives. Not a gun 
was fired, not an arrow was shot, and yet they 
got back all the horses, and all the Indians were 
killed. 

A few days after the whole tribe surrounded and 
entered Ross' house. He was sick with fever. His 
little son, who was years afterwards Governor, 
went out and asked them what they wanted, and 
they said they wanted watermelons. He showed 
them the way to the patch, and they helped them- 
selves and went away. At that time they killed 



14 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



many people all around Austin^ the capital of our 
State. The}^ ran after a man named William Bar- 
ton, who lived across the river from Austin at the 
spring which bears his name. Finding they were 





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A WOUNDED RANGER. 



going to catch up with him, he stopped on top of 
a hill and made a sign as if he w^ere beckoning to 
some one to come and help him. The Indians 
stopped a moment. During that time he rushed 
home. His neighbor was killed in his sight. 
Another party of Indians came into the town 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 15 

of Austin before sundown and hid themselves in 
the brush along a small stream which flows 
through the western part of that city. Two chil- 
dren, a boy and a girl, who came out to drive up 
the cows, the Indians took in sight of their mother. 
Her screams could be heard for miles. A party 
of men heard her and ran after them. The In- 
dians got away and crossed the river at Mount 
Bonnell. Months after the boy was brought back 
and taken to his mother. He said the Indians 
camped six miles from Austin, and his little sister 
fought the Indians bravely. But they took her to 
the top of a hill, a long way from the camp, and 
in a short time came back Avith her scalp hanging 
from one of their belts. This little boy took some 
men to the spot, where they found her bones and 
clothing. 



"BIG FOOT" WALLACE. 

One night the Big Foot Indian came to Austin, 
and in prowling around stole something from a 
man named Gravis, and then went to the cabin of 
Fox and Wallace. 

The next morning Gravis trailed the Indian to 
the doorstep of Wallace, and without trying to 
trace him any further, waked Wallace up and told 




BIG FOOT WALLACE. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 17 

him he had been stealing. Wallace also wore 
moccasins and made a large track, but he was so 
angry at Gravis that he was about to whip him 
on the spot, and made a grab at him. Gravis got 
out of the way and told him to prove himself clear 
and there would be no fight. Wallace sai;l he 
could do that, and at once went to the Indian's 
track and placed his foot in it with the moccasin 
on and made Gravis come up close enough to look 
at it, and showed him how much longer the In- 
dian's track was than his. So Gravis begged par- 
don and walked oif. Fox came to the door and 
saw the whole thing, and while Wallace was 
standing in the Indian's track he laughed and 
said : ^'Xow, Wallace, when the Big Foot Indian 
is not around, we v/ill call you 'Big Foot.' " Others 
took up the name, and so it came al)out that when 
some cne would say something about Big Foot 
another would ask, "Which do you mean, the In- 
dian or 'Big Foot' Wallace? So the name stuck 
to him. 

Afterwards Fox was one day hoeing a small 
patch of corn surrounded by a brush fence, when 
Big Foot, the Indian, shot him from the fence, 
AVallace now wanted to kill the Indian, and took 
the trail. 

2— History 



18 FOOTPRIXTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



WALLACE'S DOGS. 

Wallace had four clogs of which he thought a 
great deal. Their names were Rock, Ring, Speck, 
and Bias. Rock was his Indian dog. Wallace 
couhl always tell by the way he acted when In- 
dians were around. If it was night he would take 
his blanket and gun and dogs and stay in a 
thicket near by until morning. The dogs would 
lie down by him without making any noise. 

One time Rock gave the sign of Indians just 
Iwfore daylight, c^nd Wallace took his gun and 
watched until dawn. He hissed the dogs out to 
see if they could find the trail. He soon heard 
them barking loudly. Coming to the spot he saw 
an Indian down in a gully and the dogs around 
him. He was keeping the dogs from taking hold 
of him In' throwing his blanket over their heads. 
Wallace raised his gun to shoot, but he saw the 
Indian was not armed, and calling the dogs off, 
made signs for the Indian to come up. He had no 
arms but a small knife, and that was broken. He 
had no arms to kill game, and he was nearly 
starved. He had broken his knife trying to open 
a terrapin. Wallace took him to his cabin, gave 
him all he could eat, and left the dogs to watch 
him. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 19 



CYNTHIA ANN PAEKER. 

A man by the name of Parker, with the help of 
nine other families, had come out to Texas and 
built a fort; that is, all the cabins were built to- 
gether with a wail ten or twelve feet high outside 
to make them safe. 

Early one morning about two or three hundred 
Indians came to see them. They held up a white 
flag when near the cabins, as if they were friendly, 
and asked where they could find a water-hole and 
a nice camping place, saying they were hungry 
and wanted some fresh beef. Mr. Parker was 
afraid not to do what they wanted him to do, so 
he went out to see them. When he came back he 
said he thought they wanted to fight, but he 
would, go again and try to make friends. As soon 
as he got among them they gave loud yells, sur- 
rounding and killing him. Like wild animals, 
their first taste of blood made them want more. 

They stormed the fort. Most of the men had 
gone to the fields to work. There were fifteen 
children and ten women. They took mothers from 
their children. They made Mrs. Parker put her 
little girl Cynthia Ann, nine years old, and her 
son John behind two Indians on horseback. A 
man from the fort soon took Mrs. Parker from 



20 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



them. One tribe took John, who got away in a 
few months; another took Cynthia Ann, who lived 
with them twenty-five years. 

That night the Indians brought out and placed 
in the center their prisoners and began their 



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MASSACRE OF DAWSON'S MEN, 



dance. One lady had a little baby three months 
old; they tore it from her, tied a rope around it 
and dragged it around, knocking it against things 
until they thought it dead, then they gave it back 
to the poor mother, who had to see all this without 
being able to help the baby. As the mother held 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 21 

it to her breast, seeing it was still alive, they 
snatched it away again and dragged it through the 
prickly pear bushes until it was dead. Then the 
poor mother dug a grave for it with her knife. 

Cynthia Ann grew up with the little Indian 
girls and boys, waiting on the squaws; in time 
she seemed to forget all about her own people. If 
the white men and Indians were fighting, she 
would be as eager to run from the whites as the 
others. Some white men tried to get her to tell 
them whether she wanted to go back home, but 
she would not say a word. When she grew up 
she married an Indian chief. She seemed to be 
happy, with her children playing around her, and 
waiting on the big chief. 

Governor Ross was fighting with the Indians 
at a river, and took some of them. Cynthia Ann 
was among those he caught. Looking at her, he 
saw she had l)lue eyes, but was burnt as dark as an 
Indian. He found out her story, and took her and 
her children among white people; but she never 
seemed happy. She died in a few years. She 
missed the wild life. 



2.3 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 




IRON JACKET. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 23 



IRON JACKET. 

The Comanches were fighting Indians. They 
fought so much that no one felt safe. So the 
State ordered a hundred men and some friendly 
Indians to try to take the camp of Iron Jacket, 
the Comanche chief. 

He wore a coat made of iron, from which he 
received his name. The Indians said that he could 
not be killed by the bullet of tne white man. He 
would fight right m the front. 

The camp was spied out by some Indians with 
our men, and taken by surprise. Iron Jacket 
fought hard. The bullets did not seem to hurt 
him. 

At last a shot from Eoss killed him. Ross took 
all the horses, men, and other things at Iron 
Jackets camp ; among them was his little son N"o- 
po. He was raised by the Ross family. 

[Colorado means red. Ask your teacher to tell 
you the m.eaning of some other Indian names.] 



24 FOOTPRINTS 0¥ TEXAS HISTORY. 



PUTNAM CHILDREN. 

One bright day Matilda Lockhart^ James Put- 
nam and his two sisters, one older than he, went 
to the river bottom to gather pecans. For some 
time they picked up the nuts, and their merry 
laughter rang out through the forest. At last it 
was time to go home. Their baskets were full of 
nuts and they were hungry for dinner. The 
l^askets and bonnets were gathered up and the 
children ran from the bottom to the edge of the 
prairie. 

But what a sight now met those merry eyes ! 
The laughing voices were hushed and the cheeks 
were pale with fear. There, in a few feet of them, 
rode a band of wild, painted Indians. 

The poor little ones could not gef away. With 
a wild shout the Indians ran around them, and 
reaching from their horses, grabbed the scream- 
ing children, and holding them in front, dashed 
away to the woods. 

When the children did not come home their 
mammas and papas became uneasy. They began 
to search among the pecan trees for them. The 
smallest child was only six years old. When 
they came to the spot where the children were 
taken, oh, how they felt ! A bonnet here, a bon- 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 25 

net there, an overturned basket and pecans scat- 
tered all about, told them the story. On the 
ground lay little Jimmy's hat. The ground was 
torn up by the horses' hoofs. They knew too well 
what had become of their little ones. No timt^ 
was to be lost. They rushed back and got a few 
men and were soon on the trail of the Indians. 
The trail led up the river and was hard to keep, as 
the country was rough. 

Once where the Indians halted the tracks of the 
children could be seen in the sand. This was near 
New Braunfels. Here they had to give up ihe 
hunt until they could get more men. After a 
while they came to an Indian camp. A spy slipped 
up and found out that the children were there. 
The papas could hardly keep from going by them- 
selves to get them. They fired into the camp as 
soon as it was light enough for the men to see to 
shoot. An Indian gave a loud yell. The time for 
battle had come, and they made a rush to fight 
their way to the middle of the camp where the 
children were. There were only a few Avhite men, 
but they fought hard. The fight was against them. 
Fresh swarms of Indians kept coming in. Loud 
3^ells rent the air, arrows flew on every side, toma- 
hawks were raised on high. Our men had to give 
up all hopes of getting their little children. 

After a long time two of the children were 



26 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

swapped for some beads. The eldest girl became 
the wife of a chief and would not leave. She 
wanted to spend the rest of her life as an In- 
dian. 

Thirty years after a white man bought an old 
woman from the Indians and brought her to his 
home to live. She could not remember her name 
or where she had been taken from by the Indians. 
When they came to the river she said she thought 
she had seen that country before. James Put- 
nam, who lived near there, was sent for to see if 
he could find out whether this was his sister. He 
knew her by a scar caused by a burn on one of her 
arms. 

WHAT THE INDIANS THOUGHT OF EED 
HAIE. 

Henry Karnes was a man who made his living 
by catching wild animals in traps and selling their 
fur. 

He liked to fight with the Indians; that was 
the reason he came to Texas. He was a spy; Deaf 
Smith was a friend of his. 

One time when he was fighting by himself with 
an Indian chief he was wounded and taken to 
their fearful camp. Strange to say, they neither 
treated him badly, killed, nor ate him up, as he 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 27 

had thought they would do. They took a fancy 
to him and treated him with great kindness. 

His red hair, which they thought was painted, 
made them think he was a great doctor. 

They tried to take his red hair away. Taking 
him to the nearest stream, they ducked him under 
the water to wash the red from his hair. They 
came near drowning him. When the red would 
not come off, they thought he was some man sent 
down by the Great Spirit. 



BOWIE'S BROTHER'S STORY OF AN 
INDIAN FIGHT. 

I. 

We met two Indians near San Saba. After 
smoking and talking with them an hour and giv- 
ing them some tobacco and shot, they went 
away. 

We camped at night. The next morning a 
Mexican came to our camp to tell us his chief 
sent word we were followed by 124 Indians, who 
said they were going to have our scalps. The 
Mexican showed his chief's silver medal to show 
he was telling the truth. 

The roads were bad, being full of rocks, and 
so they hurt the horses' feet. We wanted to reach 



28 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

the fort. In the evening we camped under some 
live-oak trees. There were thirty or forty trees, 
about the size of a man's body. We got ready for 
the night by cutting a road inside the thicket of 
bushes. We put guards out. 

The next morning we started for the fort. The 
Indians were on our "trail to the east, not far away. 
An Indian footman about fifty yards ahead of the 
others, with his face to the ground, was tracking. 
The cry of Indians was given, and all hands to 
arms. We got down and made our horses fast to 
the trees. The Indians gave the war whoop and 
halted. 

Their numl)er being so many more than ours, 
Bowie's brother was sent out to talk with them 
and try to keep peace. He walked up near them 
and said: 

• "Send forward your chief; I want to talk with 
him.'' 

Their answer was, "How de do ?" and they shot 
at us. Bowie fired back. They then opened a 
heavy fire upon us. When they found their shot 
failed to bring Bowie do^n, eight Indians, on foot, 
took after him with their tomahawks, and when 
close upon him our men rushed out with their 
guns and brought down four of them. Then the 
other four went back. All was still for about five 
minutes, 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 29 

We now saw cX hill to the northeast red with 
Indians, wdio fired upon us. Our guns were all 
empty hut one. James Bowie cried out, "Who is 
loaded r Mr. H. said, "I am.''' 

"Shoot that Indian on horseback." He did so. 
By this time four of our party fired. All of them 
then went back of the hill out of sight, except a 
few who were running about from tree to tree, out 
of gunshot. 

Now they began to shoot their arrows from 
behind trees, rocks, and bushes. Another chief 
came up, near the spot where the last one fell. 

"Who is loaded?" was asked. The answer was, 
"Nobody." A negro boy handed Bowie a rifle. He 
fired and brought the red chief down from his 
horse. At every crack of a rifle a redskin fell. 

Some came up behind us and began to fire. 
They made a circle around us. We had to leave 
the trees and take to the thickets. We shot down 
most of the men under the bank of the creek, be- 
cause we could see them when they could not 
see us. 

The road we had cut around the thicket the 
night before gave us a fair view of them, while we 
were hid. We moved six or eight feet as soon as 
we fired, so their only mark was the smoke of our 
guns. In this w^ny w^e fought two hours. 



30 FOOTPRI>^TS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



BOWIE S BROTHER S STORY OF AN INDIAN FIGHT. 



II. 



Our rifles brought half a dozen down at every 
round. They found out that they could not run 
us out of the thicket. They put fire to the dry, 
grass to try to burn us out, and under cover of 
the smoke to carry away their dead, who lay near 
us. The wind was now blowing from the west 
and they made the fire in that direction, where 
it burned down all the grass to the creek, and then 
bore off to the right and left, leaving around us 
about five acres unhurt by the fire. We scraped 
away the dry grass and leaves from our wounded 
men and baggage to keep the fire from them. We 
piled up rocks and bushes for a breastwork. They 
could not get us out by fire, so they fought from 
behind the rocks and trees. 

We were in great danger should the Indians 
put fire to the small spot where we were. We 
kept a watch all around. One of the Indians 
crawled down the creek and put fire to the grass 
around us; but before he could get back he was 
killed. 

At this time we saw no hopes of getting away, 
as the fire was coming down before the wind 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 31 

flaming ten feet liigli, and coming to the spot 
where we were. What was to be done? Must we 
be burned alive, or driven into the prairie among 
the red men? To make it worse. their shouts rent 
the air. They fii'ed upon us twenty shots a min- 
ute. As soon as the smoke hid us we planned 
what was best to be done. They might charge 
on us under cover of the smoke, as we could fire 
but once. 

The sparks were flying about so thickly that no 
man could open his powder-horn without running 
the risk of being blown up. We thought that if 
they came upon us we would give them one fire, 
place our backs together, draw our knives, and 
fight them as long as any one of us was left alive. 
If they should not fight us we must be burnt up. 
Each man took care of himself as well as he could 
until the fire came to the ring around us ; there we 
put it out with buffalo robes. 



BOWIE S BROTHER S INDIAN FIGHT. 



III. 



Our thicket being so much burnt that it was 
little or no shelter, we all got into the ring and 
built our breastwork higher, with the loose rocks 



32 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

from the inside and dirt dug up with our knives 
and sticks. The Indians had taken away all their 
killed and w^ounded. It was now sundown and 
w^e had been fighting since sunrise; and they^ see- 
ing us still alive and ready to fight, drew off and 
camped for the night. We made our breastwork 
higher still. We now filled all our skin bottles 
with water, expecting another attack the next 
morning. All night long we could hear the In- 
dians crying over their dead. At daylight they 
shot a wounded chief, because they knew he would 
die. They, after that, set out with their dead and 
wounded to a mountain about a mile away. They 
put them in a cave on the side of the moun- 
tain. 

Finding ourselves much cut up, having one man 
killed and three wounded, we made our fort 
stronger. At 1 o'clock we saw thirteen Indians 
and ran in. As soon as they saw we were ready 
to fight they went off. We, after that, stayed in 
our fort eight days. Then we set out for San 
Antonio, and got there safely. 



BLACK JIM BOWIE. 

Bowie and some men were out hunting for gold 
and silver. They piled up rocks to make their 



FOOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 33 

camp safe. They could see anyone coming a long 
way off. The camp was near a spring. 

One morning some Indians came up. Bowie 
and the men went into the camp. Soon they 
began to fight. The Indians fired from behind 
rocks, trees, and bushes. 

The fight lasted all day. During the day 
Bowlegs men drank up all their water. The In- 
dians would see them if they went to the spring. 

Bowie had a young negro named Jim. 

"Jim," says Bowie, "I want you to take the 
canteens and bring us some water from the 
spring." 

"No, sah. Mars. Jim, couldn^t think of such a 
thing. Dem old Injuns is layin' dah in dem 
rocks and brushes and dey can git up from dah and 
kill dis nigger fo you could say scat twice, and 
fo I could half fill dem canteens. No, sah; 
can't go." 

Bowie looked at the negro and said: "Jim, 
which are you the most afraid of, me or those 
Indians ?" 

"Well, now," says Jim, "if you 'sist on me goin', 
den I'll go. Hunt up dem canteens. I'm off." 

Bowie told Jim he need not be afraid. He 

filled the canteens and was coming back before 

the Indians saw him. They began to yell. Jim 
3— History 



34 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

ran as well as he could with the canteens dangling 
about him. The Indians ran after him. The 
deadly aim of Bowie's gun killed some of them. 
All ran back except one, wdio dropped his empty 
gun, and pulling out his tomahawk ran close to 
Jim. 

Jim now sang out, "0 Mars. Jim ! Shoot dis 
Injun here. He gwdne to hurt somebody here.'' 

A man from the camp shot and the Indian fell 
back so suddenly that his feet flew up into the 
air. Jim, who was running and watching the 
Indian at the same time, shouted out: "^ever 
mind, now, Mar-. Jim. Mars. Bob done knock 
his heels higher'n his head.'' 

Jim soon came into the fort puffing and blow- 
ing but unhurt, and bringing all the canteens 
with him. 

"i^ow, Mars. Jim," he said between breaths, 
"^^make dis water go fur as possible. It won't take 
much mo' dis kind a work to be one nigger less 
in dis big round world. De wool liked a flew dat 
time. All dat kept dat ugly Injun from puttin' 
dat hatchet on my head cause Mars. Bob hold him 
load back and make de bullet come straight. Ha, 
ha, ha ! You orter hear him grunt when dat piecQ 
lead took him k';rchug." 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 35 



LA SALLE. 

it 

La Salle showed when a boy a love for travel. 
When he talked about finding a great river, peo- 
ple said "He is crazy ; his head is touched." What 
is the name of the great river? 

While he was hunting for this river he landed 
in Texas. He came from France many miles 
across the ocean. He had a hard time getting the 
King of France to let him go. He fitted out four 
ships to go by sea to the mouth of the great river. 
They sailed with 300 men and women. One of his 
ships full of stores was sunk. 

They landed. La Salle put up camps, and 
sent out men to see where they had landed. It 
was a pleasure for the men to see green trees; 
they had been on the water so long. La Salle, 
with his own hands, helped them to cut down and 
lay the logs for the houses. 

He took the new land in the name of France. 
The country was full of wild game, and the In- 
dians they met at first seemed to be friendly. But 
after a while they killed two of the men. 

Before long food gave out. The men grew 
unhappy. They did not like La Salle. They 
thought he was too proud. Some of them sailed 



36 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 




FOOTPRINTS OF. TEXAS HISTORY. 3^ 

away to France and took all the cannon balls, 
leaving him with eight useless cannon. 

There was bnt one man whom he could trust. 
That was Tonti, of the "iron hand.'' He lost his 
liand in battle. He wore a glove. The Indians 
were afraid of that iron hand. 

La Salle had left him behind with a few of the 
men. Now he wanted to find him. They were in 
great need of food. All the ships coming to help 
them were lost. They had a hard time finding 
Tonti. They had to swim the rivers, which were 
up; they went through dark forests; they fought 
many Indians. 

There was one tribe of Indians the others were 
afraid of. La Salle drew pictures on the trees as 
they went along, like this fierce tribe. Other 
Indians saw these and were afraid to follow him. 

La Salle was sick with fever for a long time. 
He stayed in a wigwam. The Indians were very 
kind to him. One time they heated some stones 
and brought them into the wigwam, then poured 
water on them, so that he could have a steam 
bath. This made him much better. 

La Salle's men wore raw hide shoes, which they 
had to keep wet, as they became hard about the 
foot. Deer skin, which they sometimes bought 
from the Indians, made nice moccasins. 

In one of La Salle's trips toward the north in 



38 FOOTPRlN^TS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

search of the Great River, snow and sleet beat 
down upon them. The country was covered with 
snow. When the}^ came to the open prairies the 
white snow glared in the sun with so dazzling a 
brightness that La Salle and some of the men 
became snow-blind. They camped near a forest, 
and here La Salle stayed for three days. He coidd 
not see at all. His eyes hurt him very much. 

A thaw took place; the rivers were opened; the 
blind men could see; and launching their canoos, 
which they had dragged after them, tliey went on 
by water. 

Tonti was never found. A bad man got La 
Salle in the woods by himself, and shot him. This 
man then took command of the others. Tonti 
waited long for the l^rave La Salle to come. Some 
Indians came and told him that La Salle was 
dead. He felt so sorry that he could not keep 
from crying. 

[Find some rivers in Texas on the map. J 

BEAN. 

Bean when but a boy came to Texas with Nol^n, 
to catch wild horses. Before they had gone far 
some Mexicans caught them. Nolan was killed 
and his men made prisoners. 



I^OOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 39 

Bean did not want to give up, but the Mexicans 
promised they would let them go. They were 
chained two and two and marched to San Antonio, 
then to the Rio Grande, and into Mexico. From 
one prison to another they were moved. 

Bean would do all sorts of things to make 
money. At one place he made shoes. He set up 
a hatter's shop ai another place, and made such 
good hats that he got all the trade. 

He learned that they needed some one to set 
fire to and to blast rocks, and he did that for 
awhile. He ran away from his guard, but he was 
soon taken back. One day he hid in an empty 
barrel on board a ship, but the cook found him. 

N"ow he was put into a dark cell, where he had 
been before. What do you think was there to 
give him welcome ? A white lizard, which he had 
made tame. 

Six years after an order came for every fifth 
man to be shot. By this time only five men of all 
the prisoners were alive. They threw dice to de- 
cide which one should die. The oldest man, 
Blackburn, was shot. 

Bean was the only one of the others who saw 
the light of day. He was turned out if he would 
promise to join the Mexican army, which he did 
for awhile, and then got away. 



40 FOOTPRINT'S OF TE:?tAS HISTORY. 

Bean fought in ihe Texas army with Lafitte, and 
he was a good friend of Houston's. 

[An ocean is the largest body of water. A gulf 
is an arm of an ocean. A bay is an arm of a gulf. 
What gulf and ocean are near Texas?] 



A BOLD PIRATE. 

A pirate is one who robs a ship at sea. Lafitte 
was a pirate on the coast of Texas. 

When he was small he ran away from home 
on a ship. His father brought him back. He 
ran away a second time, and never came home 
any more. 

At last he came to Galveston. There he lived 
like a great man. There were nearly a thousand 
men with him. They had many fast ships which 
would sail over the Gulf of Mexico and capture 
other ships. These bold men would steal the silks, 
carpets, wines, gold, and beautiful skins of wild 
animals. All the goods were spread out when 
they got to the landing and divided among the 
men, Lafitte was not stingy; he would take only 
a little for himself. Slave ships came in full of 
negroes, who were driven into the fort and 
sold. 



42 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

All the men loved Laiitte. He lived in a fine 
honse^ called the '^Red House.'' 

The Indians did not like to see these strange 
men with ships and cannon come and take their 
nice fishing place. In a little while they had a 
quarrel, and some of Lafitte's men were killed. 

The Indians when they came over camped at 
the "Three Trees."" When Lafitte found it out 
he began to fight them. They fought two or three 
days. The Indians had to give up. This was the 
battle of "Three Trees.'' 

A man by the name of Long came to the island 
and wauted Lafitte to help to get people to come 
to Texas, to live, so it would belong to our people. 
Lafitte said he wished him well, but he could not 
help him. 

In 1821 Long left his wife and some men at 
a place near Galveston and went to Goliad. All 
of the men soon grew tired of waiting and left 
Mrs. Long. She would not go with them, because 
she had told her husband she would stay. Her two 
little children and a negro girl were with her. 
Summer and winter passed. She heard nothing 
from him. They had no food. The Indians would 
come, and she would fire the guns herself. She 
only left when she heard that her husband was 
dead. 



J'OOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 43 



THE TREASURE. 

These pirates took American ships, so the Gov- 
ernor said he would give $500 reward for their 
leader's head. This was posted up all around, hut 
Lafitte wanted to get even, so he said he would 
give $5000 for the Governor's head. 

After a little while he was ordered to leave 
the island. He called his men, gave them each 
some money, and having set fire to his fort, sailed 
away in a ship called ''The Pride." 

Some say Lafitte buried a lot of money and 
fine things ou the island, but they have never 
been found. 

Men go there and dig for them. It is said that 
one time they dug up a great iron chest; but 
just as they were about to lift it out, some one 
spoke, and it fell back. It can only be taken out 
in silence. 

One story says that on the night he left the 
island forever he was heard to say, as he paced up 
and down the hall of the "Red House," "I have 
buried my treasure under the 'Three Trees.' In 
the shadow of the three lone trees I have buried 
my treasure." Two of his men who were standing 
outside in the dark heard him. 

They stole away down the beach with spades and 



44 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

picks. Their leader's treasure must be very great, 
and they would have it. They reached the spot. 
In the pale moonlight, breathless and eager, they 
shoveled away the sand. At last they found a long 
wooden box, whose cover they opened. Within, 
instead of piles of gold and silver, they saw the 
pale face and form of the chiefs beautiful young 
wife, who had died the day before. This was 
the treasure of Lafitte. 

[An island is land surrounded by water. Draw 
one. What large island is off the coast of Texas? 
Tell about the storm of 1900.] 



THE FATHER OF TEXAS. 

Moses Austin came to Texas to ask if he might 
bring some people here to live. They said he 
might. He went back home. On the way he was 
robbed. He lived for some days on acorns and 
nuts. 

This was in the dead of winter. He was out in 
the cold so much that he died. He left a son, 
Stephen, to carry out his work. If your father 
started any great work, could you carry it out for 
him? 

Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas, did 



FOOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 45 

just what his father had planned to do. He wa^ 
a young man and very brave. 

He chose the land lying between the Colorado 
and Brazos rivers for his men to settle. To each 
man was given 640 acres of land; to his wife 320 
acres; and 140 acres to each child. 

A ship called the "Lively" was sent to Austin. 
She was full of good things to eat. She carried 
plows and other things they needed, but they 
never received her. 

Austin had to take a trip to Mexico to get his 
grant again. A grant was a paper saying that he 
might bring some white people to Texas to live. 
Two men went with him. They all dressed like 
beggars, because they were afraid of being robbed 
or killed. They slept in the open air at night. 
Twelve hundred miles was a long way to go on 
foot, wasn^t it? 

Austin had to stay a year. He was received 
with joy when he came back home. Some of his 
men had left the country. Day and night they 
had to keep guard against the Indians. There 
was no mail unless a man should bring a letter 
or paper in his pocket. 

[What is the capital of Texas ? Find it on the 
map. For whom was the capital named?] 



46 



FOOTPKINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



HOW THE FIRST TEXAN S LIVED. 

These people lived in rough log cahins, but they 
were honest and kind and true. They lived on 
wild game. Deer and bear being scarce^ they 
sometimes had to kill the wild horses for food. 




LOG CABIN OF AN EARLY SETTLER. 



There were no stores where anything could be 
bought. The women as well as the men wore 
buckskin clothes. They were glad to see a peddler 
with a few yards of calico. It cost as much as silk 
does now, 50 or 75 cents a yard. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 47 

Litile crops of corn and cotton grew near the 
cabins. The men were kept busy hewing down 
trees and catting the cane brakes. After burning 
the brush they planted corn in holes made with a 
sharp stick. 

Some of the men would stay to guard the fam- 
ily. The others would leave in the morning to 
hunt food. Game was so scarce that they might 
hunt a whole day for a deer or wild turkey and 
return at night empty handed. 

It would have made your heart sick to have 
seen the poor little children, who had eaten noth- 
ing during the day, watch for the return of the 
hunters at night. As soon as they caught the 
first sight of them they ran out to meet them and 
learn if they had found any game. If the hunters 
returned with a deer or turkey the children were 
wild with delight. But if they returned without 
food, the little ones stopped, and big tears would 
start and roll down their cheeks. 

The doors were always left open, even when the 
houses were empty. When a man rode up to a 
house they said he found the latch-string hanging 
out. The hopper in the hollowed log was set to 
grinding corn. The deer or bear meat was put on 
the coals. The ash Cake was baked. 

After the meal and the evening pipe, the visitor 
^stretched himself on a buffalo robe with the 



48 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

family, and slept well. When he left they said, 
"You can pay ns by coming again/' 

[What towns in Texas are named for great 
men?] 



AUSTIN m MEXICO. 

After some years Texas wanted to be a free 
State. Austin was the one she chose to go to 
Mexico and ask for it. This was no easy thing to 
do. The Mexicans were having war in their own 
country, and they did not trust our men. 

Austin's papers were sent to Congress. But he 
had to wait so long for an answer that he wrote 
a letter to Texas, saying he thought they ought 
to form a State whether Mexico wanted them to 
or not. Some one sent this letter to Mexico. This 
made the Mexicans angry. They carried Austin to 
the city and threw him into prison, where for a 
time they would not let him have any papers or 
pen and ink. No one could speak to him, nor he 
with anybody. 

At last, while he was in prison, they let an old 
friend of his bring him a book and a pencil. To 
make the time pass faster he wrote some. He 
says: 



FOOTPRI-NTTS OF TEXAS HlgTOKY. 49 

'^The walls of my cell have some ])Lctures of 
snakes and scenes drawn more than sixty years 
ago. 

"To-night at half past 10 there was a very bad 
earthquake. 

. "When I first came to Texas, in 1821, I ]\jA a 
very old man with me, who was a good hu.^'er. 
Hardly a day passed that he did not say to me, 
^You are too impatient; yon wish to go too fast.' I 
saw this was a good rule. I am so sorry that 1 
did not obey this rule when I wrote my letter in 
Mexico.'' 

Travis sent to Mexico asking that they would 
let Austin go. He was put into a better room. 
And there was some talk of taking him into court 
to try him for treason. Letters came saying Aus- 
tin was not friendly to Mexico, so they would not 
let him go. 

After staying over two years they sent him 
home. The people who had come with Austin to 
Texas received him as one risen from the dead. 
He found everything was going wrong. War had 
begun. 

They wanted him for a commander, because he 
was simple and truthful. He knew the Mexicans 
well. He fought to make Texas free. 

4— History 



50 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



THE WAE. 

A long time ago many Mexicans lived in Texas. 
Texas belonged to Mexico. Find Mexico on the 
map. The Mexicans asked people from other 
States to come here to live, but after awhile they 
grew jealous of these people. They said the Tex- 
ans were not doing right. The Texans said every 
one who wanted to be free from Mexico must take 
up arms. This was their cry: 

"To arms! to srms ! The cry wakes the land! 

CHORUS. 

Arouse, -ye braves ! your banners wave ! 
Texans, to arms ! 
The lead is in the tube, the butt in the hand. 
Arouse, ye braves ! your banners wave ! 
Texans, to arms ! 
From your guns an answer fling. 
Bid the thundering echoes ring. 

Arouse, ye braves ! your banners wave ! 
Texans, to arms V 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 51 



BATTLE HYMISr. 



I. 



"They are rising, they are marching 
From the mountains and the glen, 

From the prairies and savannahs, 
A determined host of men. 



II. 



They are rushing to the seaside, 
They are forming on the plain. 

Whole brigades of daring spirits — 
Men too proud to wear a chain. 

III. 

Songs of love and hymns of glory 
Shall await the true and brave. 

And the millions free and grateful. 
Guard the fallen soldier^s grave.^ 



58 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



THE FIEST BATTLE. 

A long time ago there were so many Indians 
around Gonzales that the people asked for a gun to 
defend themselves. The Mexicans gave them one. 
It lay about the streets^ upon the ground, un- 
mounted. It was used to make a noise whenever 
the people got merry. The Mexicans now wanted 
them to give up the gun. They would not 
do it. 

The cannon was buried in a peach orchard, the 
ground being plowed and smoothed over. 

Some of the men made shot for the cannon by 
cutting up pieces of chains and forging iron balls 
out of such scraps as they could get. Help came. 
The Mexicans could not cross with letters, because 
the ferryboat had been hidden. They were told 
that the alcalde was not in town, but a man might 
swim over with the letters, which he did. 

The ferryboat was put back. Then an ox wagon 
was fitted up and the gun raised and mounted 
upon it. The Texan s drew it to the river with a 
banner raised above the cannon, "Come and take 
it." The Texans crossed the river with the can- 
non. Then they marched up the river several 
miles. The fog was so thick when some of our 
men met the Mexicans, they could not tell whether 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 53 

they were firing at a friend or not. A little dog 
ran among the Texans and showed where they 
were. 

There was a loud roar of cannon. The Mexicans 
fled like clouds of dust before a storm. Our men 
took blankets and other things from them. 



MILAM A PRISONER IN MEXICO. 

When Milam was a prisoner in Mexico, his 
pleasant ways made the jailer like him. The 
jailer let him take a walk to the river to bathe. 
Milam told a friend to have a fleet horse for him 
at a certain place. He passed the sentinel as he 
went to the water, walked quietly on, mounted, 
and fled. 

A few days^ hard riding brought him to Texas. 
When he reached here he found the war begun. 
A few men made up their minds to attack the 
fort at Goliad, then in the hands of the Mexicans. 
This was the way they did it: 

Their axes cut down the door where the colonel 
slept, and he was taken prisoner in his bed. The 
sentinel was killed. The blaze of the Mexican 
guns made a target for our men. They were told 
to give up. They asked for terms. The answer 
was; 



54 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

"No terms; come out and give up, and come 
quick, or you will be killed, every one of you.- I 
can not keep the men back much longer.^' 

"Oh,^" shouted the Mexicans, "keep the men 
back, for God's sake ; we will come out at once." 

They rushed out in a hurry and laid down their 
arms. The place was taken by a handful of 
men. 



CONCEPCION. 

Fannin and Bowie were sent to the river to 
choose a nice camping place for the army. They 
found a beautiful spot in the bend of the river 
near Concepcion. Here they camped for the 
night. 

Next morning about the Ijreak of day, as some 
of the men were making fires, the Mexicans began 
to fight. It was foggy; the Mexicans had put a 
cannon upon a hill near by.. Bowie heard the 
creak of the cannon and waked up the men. He 
said : "Get your guns, boys ; here they come." 

The Mexicans came upon Henry Karnes in the 
dark. He fired upon them and fell back into the 
camp. Fannin and Bowie told their men to make 
the bank of the river safe, and to form and shoot 
when they liked. As soon as it was light the 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 55 

Texans cleared a path through the vines and cut 
steps in the blutf, so as to fire over its edge. 

The cannon shots did no harm, because the 
Texans were sheltered by trees. If a man showed 
himself to get a shot, some one called out, "Look 
out ! You will get shot." 

Our men fired into them and they ran. Three 
times this was done, and then the shout was heard, 
"Charge the cannon !" Then the Texans dashed 
up the hill and sang out, "That cannon is ours !" 
Our rifles soon cleared the gunners from the can- 
non. We took the cannon, and fired it upon the 
Mexicans. This ran them off. 

In the battle Mexican horsemen were placed 
back east in the prairie on the road about half a 
mile away. Their ropes were ready to catch the 
Texans when they were driven out of the timber 
across the open tiats. They had not yet learned 
what it was to round up a bunch of Texans. In 
the end they ran away with the loss of one can- 
non and about sixty men. 



THE GEASS FIGHT. 

The Texan army was at Concepcion. They had 
a thousand men. They marched by the powder- 
house and camped near the head of the San An- 



56 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 




FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 57 

tonio Eiver, on the slope of the hill. There they 
stayed four or five days, keeping watch around the 
town. They thought that General Cos, who was 
in the town, would give up. He could not get any- 
thing to eat for his men or horses, but he still 
held out. The Mexicans sent out 300 of their 
horses to save feed, but Travis caught them. These 
were so poor they knew the men must have nothing 
to eat. Many men died from hunger. Our men 
liked to play with the cannon balls the Mexicans 
shot at them, and then throw them back. They 
would not let the Mexicans out to get anything to 
eat. 

Deaf Smith had been looking for the Mexican 
general to bring money to pay the men. On that 
morning Cos had sent some men to cut grass for 
the horses. Having cut the grass they were on 
their way back, when Deaf Smith saw them. The 
grass was in saddle-bags thrown over the backs of 
the burros. Deaf Smith thought these bags were 
full of gold and silver, so he ran back to tell the 
Texans, who set up a cry. Bowie and all the 
men galloped after the horses. They had a big 
fight and drove tbe men from the dry creek and 
took the horses. How funny they must have felt 
when they opened the bags and found nothing but 



58 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

grass ! I guess tliey told many a joke about it. 
That was like little boys and girls fighting with 
grass, wasn^t it? 



BEN MILAM. 

With old Ben Milam, who will go. 

To meet the foe in San Antonio? 

Stepping out in front of the tent, 

In truth he was a noble man. 

His hat he waved, and shouted as he went, 

"Bring forth the horse V The horse was brought 

He looked as if the speed of thought 

Were in his limbs as on he ran. 

An eager crowd took up the cry 
As though it were a joy to die. 
We have not many miles to go. 
With every now {ind then a blow. 
And ten to one at least the foe. 
Away ! away ! and on we dash. 
Elvers less rapid and less rash ! 

We neared the river town; 'twas not so wide 
But we could see the bounds on either side; 
'Twas studded with old live-oak trees. 
That bent not to the roughest breeze. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 59 

We rustled through the leaves like wind, 
Left shrubs and trees and men behind. 
By night we heard them on the track, 
Their men came hard upon our back. 

We feared that we might meet some lurking spy; 

Dark above us was the sky; 

But through it stole a tender light. 

Like the first moonrise of midnight; 

^Twas scarcely yet the break of day. 

As we moved along in darkness 

Between the walls of houses in the way. 

By the drum the alarm was given, 

The cry of the Texans arose to heaven, 

"Shoot every man who shows himself 

Through windows, loopholes, and every way ;" 

Thus the battle lasted all day. 

Struck in the head by a ball, 

King-like brave Milam bore his fall. 

His men all silent were they. 

As they buried him just where he lay. 

And let me say, of all our band. 
Though firm of heart and strong of hand, 
In skirmish, march, or forage, none 
Can less have said or more have done. 
Than thee, Ben Milam ! On the earth 
So fit a one had Eever birth. 



60 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

To sleep the sleep of death in the arms of victory, 
And o'er thy tomb shall children weep, 
And pray to heaven in murmurs low, 
That peaceful be the hero's sleep 
Who conquered San Antonio. 

For bravest of the Texas clime. 

Who fought to make her children free. 

Was Milam ! and his death sublime. 
Linked with undying liberty. 



INDEPENDENCE DAY. 

Do you know why we have a holiday on the 2d 
of March? Because on that day the paper was 
signed which made Texas free. 

Did you know that some boys signed that paper ? 
After that Texas was not under the laws of Mexico 
any longer. That paper said many things which 
were for the good of the people who live here; 
some of the things were: 

1. No man could be put in prison for debts. 

2. Women and children may always Keep a 
home. 

3. All children can go to school free of cost. 
Little children, you must say, "Here and here 

has Texas helped me; how can I help Texas?" 



FOOTPraNTS OF TEXAS iriSTOllY. Gl 

Yoli can lionor and love the flag of your St^te. 
Love Texas. On Independence day of each year 
let the flag of our fathers, the Lone Star flag of 
Texas, be raised upon your schoolhouse. You will 
soon be the men and women of the State. She 
looks to you to l)e true to her good works. 



THE TWIN SISTERS. 

You have seen, no doubt, twin sisters, but you 
never saw any like the ones I am going to tell you 
about. They couldn't breathe or feel, but if you 
were in front of them you would think they were 
alive. Can you guess what they were ? Well, they 
were two brass cannon. They were made and sent 
as a present from the people of another town to 
help Texas. 

It was hard to send them so many miles. Hous- 
ton sent for them twice, but there was no way of 
sending them by land. The roads were bad; the 
enemy was near. So they were sent by water to 
Galveston, and at this place horses were used to 
haul them the rest of the way. 

Horseshoes and old pieces of iron were cut up 
and tied in bags for shot. They got after Santa 
Anna, the Mexican general, on the day of the bat- 
tle of San Jacinto. He came marching up. A 



62 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

shot from the Twin Sisters brought him to a sud- 
den halt, and he was in a hurry to fall back to 
some trees a quarter of a mile away, 

[Draw a cannon.] 

THE GREAT HUNTER. 

David Crockett, the mighty deer and bear 
hunter, spent his life in the woods. 

When he was a little boy his playthings were 
the ax and the rifle. His father tried to get him 
to go to school, but he ran away from home be- 
cause his teacher wanted to whip him for playing 
^^hookey." His school was the woods; his book 
his long rifle "Betsy.^^ 

He dressed in buckskin. He wore a coonskin 
cap. 

Crockett's aim was certain death. A good story 
is told of him. They say that one time when he 
was coon-liunting, seeing a coon up a tree, he 
pointed his gun at it. The coon said: 

"Is that you, Crockett? Well, you needn't 
shoot; I'll just come down, for I know you'll kill 
me." 

He gave his life for Texas at the Alamo. ■ 

This is the way he said you must act. Copy it : 

"Be sure you're right; then go ahead." 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 63 



THE TEXAS SPY. 

Did you ever play ^'I Spy?^' To spy means to 
hunt. One child shuts his eyes and the others 
hide. He counts a hundred, then runs to find 
them. 

So, Deaf Smith was the man who went over to 
the Mexican side and tried to find out what they 
were doing, then came hack and told our men. 

When men had to go on a long trip he would 
show them the way. He led Fannin and Bowie 
to Concepcion, and showed Milam the way through 
the dark streets at the storming of San Antonio. 
He was sent to meet Mrs. Dickinson on her way 
from the Alamo. 

He was at home in the woods. He was called 
Deaf Smith because he was hard of hearing. He 
loved to ramble alone. He spoke but few words. 

[ What did he do at San Jacinto ? What did he 
do at the Grass Fight?] 



AN INDIAN FIGHTER. 

Bowie was a great Indian fighter. He was six 
feet high, not fleshy, but well made. He had a 



64 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

fair skin and small blue eyes. He stood quite 
straight, which Uiade him have rather a fierce 
look. But he was mild and quiet. He had a 
wonderful way of winning people to him. He 
was as strong as he was daring. Plis brother says 
when he was a little boy he would rope and ride 
alligators. 

The first bowie knife was made by him. Did 
you ever see one? It is used for hunting. But 
Bowie killed a man with it once in a fight. Bowie 
married a Mexican lady. Still he always fought 
for Texas. 



THE FLAG. 

As the gray light of dawn came, the flag of 
Travis, which was a Mexican flag, still waved 
proudly from the walls. It was not torn from its 
staff until the last man had fallen. 

"N"ow the foe may wave it, 
For there's not a sword to save it; 
There is not one left to lave it. 
In the blood that heroes gave it.^^ 

[Ask your teacher to draw the six flags Texas 
has been under. 1 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 65 

"Hurrah for the Lone Star ! Up, up to the mast, 
With the honored old bunting, and nail it there 

fast; 
When the ship is ]n danger, the Texans will fight 
^Neath the flag of the Lone Star, for God and 
their right. '^ 



TRAVIS' LETTER FROM THE ALAMO. 

This is the kind of letter Travis wrote from 
the Alamo. You can see the letter if you go to the 
capitol. Copy it : 

"Alamo, . 

"Bexar, Fby. 24th, 1836. 

"To the People of Texas and all Americans in 
the world : 

"Fellow citizens and compatriots: 

"I am besieged by a 1000 or more of the Mexi- 
cans under Santa Anna. I have held out under 
a cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. 
They have demanded a surrender, otherwise we 
are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I 
have answered them with a cannon shot, and our 
flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall 
never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in 
the name of Liberty and everything dear to Ameri- 

5— History 



66 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

cans to come to our aid^ with all dispatch. The 
enemy is receiving more men daily and will no 
doubt be 3000 or 4000 strong in four or five days. 
If this call is neglected I will hold out as long as 
I am able and die like a soldier who never forgets 
what is due to his honor and to that of his 
country. 

"A^ictory or Death. 

'^William Barrett Travis. 

"P. S. When the enemy appeared in sight we 
had not three bushels of corn. We have since 
found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and 
gotten into the walls 20 or 30 head of beeves. 

"Travis." 



FALL OF THE ALAMO. 



I. 



For ten days the Texan s held the fort against 
several thousand Mexicans. Giving up hope of 
any help, Travis made up his mind to sell his life 
dearly, and drawing a line with his sword on the 
ground, he told all who were willing to fight with 
him to "fall in line.'' Even Bowie, who was dying 
with consumption, had his cot carried to the 
line. 



FOOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 67 

On the last of Tebruary the fight began. Early 
in the morning a cannon ball struck the Alamo 
near where Crockett was sleeping. He sprang up 
and ran out on the roof. He saw a gunner just 
ready to fire another shot, but Crockett shot him. 
He killed five men, until at last the Mexicans were 
afraid, so they stopped firing. 

For eleven days 200 men held 4000 from the 
Alamo. At that time the building had a thick 
stone wall around it. 

On Sunday, the 6th of March, the Alamo fell 
into the hands of the Mexicans. Santa Anna 
had made up his mind to take the place. He 
put his men all around the walls. Some of them 
were afraid of the Texans. He formed them in 
ranks and put horsemen behind them to whip 
them forward if they turned back. At 4 o'clock 
that morning the Mexican bugles sounded. They 
fought for two hours. The Mexicans were driven 
back twice. As fast as they placed ladders against 
the walls, the Texans killed the men and toppled 
the ladders over. But for every Mexican who fell 
there were a dozen to take his place, 

[Where is the Alamo?] 



68 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

II. 

The brave Texans used their rifles as clubs 
when there was no time to load them. The Mexi- 
cans broke in. The Texans went back into the 
Mission and got behind bags of dirt, which they 
had piled in the windows and doorways and (to the 





1 


THE ALAMO. 







roofs. Mexicans were on all sides. Soon in every 
room there was hand-to-hand fighting. 

Bowie and some others were in the hospital. As 
fast as the Mexicans tried to come in they would 
shoot them down, from their beds. At last the 
Mexicans fired a cannon and scattered all the sick. 
Bowie was lying on the floor badly wounded. A 
Mexican thinking him nearly dead, came up to 



t^OOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 69 

kill him. Bowie sprang up, caught him, and 
waved his big knife. The Mexican yelled as he 
stabbed him, and both fell over dead. 

In another part of the Alamo, Travis, Crockett, 
and others had been driven into a corner of a 
room. Backs to the wall they were fighting with 
bloody knives and guns and clubs. Their faces 
were cut and blood-stained. Twenty dead Mexi- 
cans lay around Crockett. The Mexican General 
was sorry for him and wanted to save him because 
he was so brave, so he called to him to give up 
and went to Santo Anna asking for quarter for 
him. Santa Anna replied, "All must be shot." 
Crockett read his answer from his face and rushed 
upon him, knife m hand, but he never reached 
him. When he had taken a few steps they riddled 
him with bullets. The other men shared the 
same fate and the Alamo was taken. Not one of 
the brave men was left to tell the story. Their 
bodies were heaped outside the walls. Wood was 
thrown on them, and they were burned to ashes. 

The only people who got away were two negro 
slaves, the servants of Travis and Bowie, and Mrs. 
Dickinson and little Emily, the "Child of the 
Alamo.'' 



70 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



A BEAVE BOY. 

When Fannin heard that the Mexicans were 
coming, he had so few men he thought best to 
leave the fort. 

Fire was set to the houses. The wagons were 
loaded. The drums called the men, and away 
they marched. 

Three miles from Goliad, Fannin stopped to 
let his tired horses get some grass, and when they 
began to march they saw the Mexican arms shining 
through the edge of the M^oods. An army was 
coming. The men made a hollow square. The 
wagons and other things were in the middle. The 
cannon could not be used, because there was no 
water to sponge ihem with. 

Fannin was hurt, but he kept on fighting. Many 
a man fought when he could hardly stand up. 

One boy named Hal, only 15 years old, had his 
thigh broken by :\ ball. He asked Mrs. Cash, a 
lady who was with them, to help him into her 
cart. She fixed a prop for hiin to lean against 
and a rest for his rifle. He fired away until an- 
other ball broke his right arm. But he had killed 
four Mexicans. 



Footprints of texas histoh-y. ^i 

^^Yon may take ine down now, mother. I have 
done my part. They have paid two men for every 
one of the lialls in me/" 



FANNIN. 

Fannin was at Goliad with 400 men. He wrote 
many times for help. In one of his letters he 
said : "Do send some money, and clothes and 
shoes for the men. The gnard marched off bare- 
footed yesterday." Fannin had sent some of his 
men to help King, who was a few miles away. 
King's men were most of them killed. Some got 
away by reaching the woods and swimming the 
river. They made their way, hiding ])y day and 
moving on by night. 

The next morning Honston sent Fannin word 
to blow up the fort and leave the place, and to 
bring away as many guns as lie could, and sink the 
rest in the river. He at once made ready to obey. 
The guns were buried. The men got the horses 
and carts ready. While they were going they met 
the Mexicans. One man, who was a doctor, 
says : 

"A spy came in and told us a large army was 
coming. We dug up our cannon and more guards 



72 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

were put on for the night. But the}- did not sur- 
prise us thcit night. 

"We went back to the fort. Our horses wanted 
food, so we stopped to graze them. The Mexicans 
followed us. We made a hollow square. We were 
told not to fire until they came near. They began 
firing. Fannin was shot, but not much hurt. 
Our guns had now become hot and we had no water 
to sponge them with. We had to use our other 
arms. We had many hurt and killed. We would 
not try to cut our way through the Mexican 
lines. 

"They were in the woods in front of us. We 
could not get away in the night, because there was 
no way to take our sick. The horses had been 
killed. We would not leave sick men. The Mexi- 
cans got help. 

"At last we raised a white flag. Fannin, wlio 
was lame, then went out with the flag. He agreed 
to give up if they would treat his men as prisoners 
of war, and send them home. Tliey signed the 
paper. 

"We gave up our arms. They took us back to 
Goliad. We reaclied tliere a little after sunset, and 
were driven into the church. Many of the men 
could play well on the flute. That evening their 
tune was 'Home, Sweet Home.' Toor men, it was 
their last eveninir. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 73 

^'On Sunday, the 27th of March, we were awak- 
ened by a man calling us up and saying he wanted 
the men to form a line, that they might be counted. 
I thought some one had run away. 

"Our men were divided into four companies and 
marched out, each company in a different way. 
Some of them were told they were wanted to kill 
beef, others that they were to be sent home. 

"In about a half hour we heard firing towards 
the river. I asked what it was. The Mexican with 
me said, ^I do not know, but suspect it is the 
guards firing off their guns.' 

"' ^Are they killing our men ?' '' I asked. 

" ^Yes,' he answered ; ^I did not give the order.' 

"Wlien a little way f]"om the walls, they were 
halted and shot. \ could see the heads of some of 
the men through the peach trees and could hear 
their screams. They were told to sit down with 
their backs to the guard. One man said : ^Boys, 
they are going to kill us ! Die with your faces to 
them like men.' 

"Fannin was the last man to 15e shot. He said 
that he did not care to live after his men had been 
shot. He acted like a soldier. He handed his 
watch to the man and asked that he be shot in the 
heart and not in the head. He was put in a chair 
and shot in the head. 



H FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS MtSTORY. 

^'Nearly all were killed at once. The Mexicans 
went around and cut up the wounded. 

"Many tried to get away, hut w^ere run down or 
shot. A few got away l)y lying down and making 
out like they were dead until dark. 

"One of the men was shot, stabbed, and beaten 
over the head with a gun and left for dead. He 
>Yas stunned for awhile, but when it grew dark he 
came to and crawled to the creek for water.'' 



THE RUNAWAYS. 

The news of the fall of the Alamo made the 
women gather together their children and start for 
a place where they would be safe. Any kind of 
a rig was used to go in. Carriages, wagons, ox- 
carts were piled up with l)edding and babies, the 
women driving or going on foot or on horseback, 
as they could. 

A family \you1-i leave a meal on the table to 
go with the rush, and the next one who came by 
would snatch it. Smokehouses were left open 
for the hungry to get what they wanted. A 
feather lied would be on a pony and the children 
tied to it. The prairie at times w^as white with 
feathers emptied from beds, and the road lined 
with things they had lost. 



t^OOTPRlNtS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 1'b 

While camping for the night there came up a 
rain. The women in camp gathered around a sick 
woman and hekl blankets over her to keep her 
dry and warm. 

It had been raining and the roads were full of 
mud. Many women and children were walking- 
barefooted and bareheaded. 

One woman had her cart bogged. It was one 
of those carts with wheels sawed from a large tree ; 
the rough body was fastened by wooden pegs and 
covered with a sheet. The oxen were lying in the 
water with their noses out for air. The woman 
with two little girls sat waiting for help. At last 
she drove lier oxen out herself. Cracking her 
whip, she called to them : ^'Rise, Buck ! Rise, 
Ball ! Now is the time to do your best." And 
Buck and Ball arose. 

At the cry of Mexicans anything and every- 
thing would Ije thrown off to lighten the wagons^ 
and the horses whipped into a run. 

After a long march in a cold rain the runaways 
halted ; the women said they could not go another 
step. They could bear no more. Rest, only rest, 
was their cry. 

On the 31st of April, 1836, as the sun shone out, 
the booming of cannon came faintly across the 
prairie. The children were asleep under the trees. 
The old men were dozing around the campfires. 



'J'6 FOOTPRINT'S OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

A woman bega^i to clajj her hands and shout. 
They saw a man riding for life towards the camp ; 
his horse was covered with foam^ and he was wav- 
ing his hand and shouting : "San Jacinto ! San 
Jacinto ! The Mexicans are whipped and Santa 
Anna a prisoner f People laughed and cried at 
the same time, they were so happy. 



BUENING OF GONZALES. 

The guns were thrown into the river and the 
town of Gonzales was burned to keep Santa Anna 
from taking it. 

One of the men who helped to burn it, said : 

"Captain" Carncs then told us that the orders 
were to burn the town, and that not a roof large 
enough to shelter a Mexican's head was to be left. 
We divided into two parties, — one party to begin 
at one end of the town, the other at the other end, 
and meet. There were some four or five in each 
party, and we made quick work of it. The houses 
were frame. In a few minutes the flames begfan 
their work, and by dawn every house was burn- 
ing. 

It was so sad. Some of the houses the people 
had just left. They had left everything. They 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 77 

were without a dollar or a friend on earth. Many 
children had lost their fathers at the Alamo; 
fathers had lost sons; brothers had lost brothers/^ 



SAN JACINTO. 



Houston went to follow the enemy. On the 20th 
day of April the Texans halted and went into 
camp. Early in the morning of the 21st Houston 
told a man to furnish Deaf Smith with one or 
more axes, and to have them at a certain place. 
At the same time he sent for Smith and told him 
not to go out of the lines that day without asking 
him, as he had some secret work for him to do. 

About 9 o^clock that morning they found that 
the Mexicans under General Cos were coming 
from Vince's bridge toward their camp. 

The Texans held a council of war. The ques- 
tion was, whether they would attack the enemy 
or await an attack from them. 

Deaf Smith and a man whom Houston had 
chosen were now sent for. The axes were given 
them to cut down Vince^s bridge and burn it. 
Houston said: "This green grass will be blood- 
red before your leturn unless you hurry." He 



78 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

wanted this bridge cut down to keep the Mexi- 
cans from getting away that way. Our Texas 
troops were full of spirit. They were eager to 
fight and could hardly keep their hands from 
their guns. They formed in line of battle near 
the San Jacinto Eiver without being seen by the 
enemy. The Mexicans were enjoying their 
"siesta/^ or evening nap. Santa Anna was 
asleep. 

While the Texans were advancing, Deaf Smith 
rode up at the top of his horse's speed to* the front 
and told Houston that the bridge was gone. 



II. 



He told the men. The "Twin Sisters," those 
famous little cannon, opened fire. Pop ! pop ! pop ! 
Boom ! boom ! boom ! The whole line cried, "Ke- 
member the Alamo ! Remember Goliad !" The 
Texans made no halt — onward they went. The 
Mexicans fled, but the Texans followed them into 
the woods. Before they could form in line the 
Texans jumped over their breastworks and tpok 
their cannon. Many of them ran away and many 
of them were killed. Finding the bridge down, 
some crossed in the bog. Others stayed on the 
prairie. In fifteen minutes they gave way at all 
points. Some fled to a clump of trees near by, 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 79 

where they gave up their arms. Their cannon 
were left loaded; all their fine things were left 
untouched. Men and horses, dead and dying, 
formed a bridge on which others passed over. 
Some cried out, "Me no Alamo ! Me no Goliad !" 



III. 



On the morning of the 22(1 some soldiers found 
Santa Anna ten ]iiiles from camp. They went as 
far as Vince^s bridge. Not finding the rest of the 
party, they did not know whether to go on to the 
Brazos or to return to camp. Thirty of the party 
agreed to go on. They went down Buffalo Bayou. 
Burleson had given orders not to kill any prison- 
ers, but to bring all into camp. Before they had 
gone far they saw some four or five deer on the 
west side of a branch. They rode on within forty 
or fifty yards of the branch, when they halted. 
The deer started, and on looking to the right they 
saw a Mexican bending his course towards the 
bridge. He stopped a moment to gaze around 
him and then started on. They rode up to where 
he was. As soon as he saw them he lay down in 
the grass, which was high enough to hide him 
from them. When they arrived at the spot he 
was lying on his side with a blanket over his face. 
They called to him to rise, but he only uncovered 



80 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

his face; then he rose and stood up for a moment. 
Finding soldiers all around him, he wanted to 
shake hands. One of them gave him his hand. 
He pressed it and kissed it. He then offered them 
as a bribe a fine gold watch, jewels, and a large 
sum of money. Would you have taken this bribe ? 
Well, the Texans refused. 

"Where is your brave Houston ?^^ he said. 

"He is in camp,^^ they replied. "Who are 
your 

"I am a private soldier.^' 

Seeing the fine studs in the bosom of his shirt 
they pointed towards them. 

"I am an aide to Santa Anna," he said, and 
burst into a flood of tears. 

"Don't grieve; you shall not be hurt." 

Dressed in common clothes, no arms, not able 
to walk, he rode two or three miles into camp. 
General Houston was lying on a blanket at the 
root of a tree, with a saddle for a pillow. 

Santa Anna walked up to him. He was lying on 
his left side, partly asleep, with his face turned 
from Santa Anna. The way he knew Santa Anna 
was by a squeeze of the hand, and Santa Anna 
called Houston's name. He looked at Santa Anna 
mildly and gave him new hope of life. Houston 
told him to sit down on a chest near by. 

Santa Anna said: "General Houston, you have 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTOIJY. 81 

conquered the Napoleon of the West. What will 
yoii do with hini?'^ 

Houston answered : "You must drive all the 
Mexicans beyond the Eio Grande. Why were you 
so cruel to the Texans at the Alamo?" 

"I followed the laws of war/' replied Santa 
Anna. 

"How about the murder of Fannin and his men ? 
They had given up/' said Houston. 

Santa Anna replied : "I had made no treaty 
with Fannin. I had to obey orders." 

Houston said : "There was a treaty made with 
Fannin. You could have done as you pleased." 

It being night, General Houston gave him a 
camp bed in his tent. He could not sleep, because 
he was afraid of being killed. The only thing that 
saved him was the firmness of Houston. The sol- 
diers wanted to kill him because he had been so 
cruel. The blade of the sword that Santa Anna 
wore in the battle of San Jacinto was found stuck 
in the ground and broken off at the hilt. It was 
worth $7000. His shirt studs had his name on 
them and were worth $1700. The Texans took 
his camp furniture, rich and splendid; silver tea 
arns, cream pitchers, chinaware with his name on 
it, and cut glass bottles with gold stoppers. 

The glad news went all over the country. "'San 

6— History 



8*^ rOOTPEINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

Jacinto ! San Jacinto ! The Mexicans are whipped 
and Santa x\nna a prisoner ! Texas is free at 

last r 



A GREAT MA^. 

Sam Houston dressed just like the Indians. In 
all pictures of him he wears a big blanket and a 
felt hat. He was received into their cabins as a 
friend and a brother. He spoke their language. 
He Jiked the wild life of the Indians. 

Once when he was with them^ his brother wanted 
him to come home^ but he said : 

"I would rather stay in the woods and measure 
deer tracks than stay in a store and measure 
cloth.'' 

One day his mother, handing him his gun from 
the cabin door, said : "There, my son, take this 
gun, and never disgrace it; for remember, I had 
rather all my sons should fill one grave than that 
one of them should turn his back to save his life. 
Go ; and remember, too, that ^^■llile the door of my 
cabin is open to all brave meii, it is shut on all 
cowards." 

In a fight with the Indians once, an arrow stuck 
deep in his side. He sprang down from his horse 
and called out to one of the men to pull out the 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. bo 

arrow. Twice the man tried and failed, it was 
so deep in the flesh. Drawing back his sword 
over his head, Houston roared to him, "Draw out 
the arrow. If you fail, I will kill you on the 
spot.^^ 

This time the man pulled out the arrow, leaving 
an ugly wound, from which the blood gushed in 
a stream. 

Houston taught a school for awhile. The chil- 
dren paid him from six to eight dollars a year. 
Sometimes they paid corn instead of money. Chil- 
dren liked his smile. He was fond of playing with 
them and telling them stories. He liked to whit- 
tle, and had his knife out all the time. He made 
toys in church for children. 

He ruled Texas at the head of the army. He 
was the first President of Texas. He was a great 
statesman. He learned not only to rule men, but 
to rule his tongue, which is much harder to do. 

Even when he was a great man he lived simply 
in a log cabin. On his table he often had only 
bread and black coffee and wild game. 

He was the man for the times, — the man that 
Texas needed. 

His last words were, "Texas ! Texas !" 

[Look on a map and bound Texas.] 



84 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



A LETTER FROM HOUSTON. 

A letter from Houston to the Red Bear and 
other chiefs: 

Washington, October 13, 1842. 
My Brothers: 

The path between us is open: it has become 
white. We wish it to remain open, and that it 
shall no more be stained with blood. 

Clouds no longer hang over us, but the sun 
gives light to our footsteps. Darkness is taken 
away from us, and we can look at each other as 
friends. 

I send men with my talk. They will give it to 
you. My Red Brother will tell you I am for peace. 
They listened to my words and were not troubled. 
A bad chief came in my place, and told them lies, 
and did them much harm. 

You wish to kill the buffalo for your women 
and children. There are many in Texas, and we 
wish you to enjoy them. 

Your Great Father and ours wishes the red men 
and the people of Texas to be brothers. Let us be 
like brothers and bury the tomahawk forever. Let 
the war whoop be no more heard on our prairies. 
Let songs of joy be heard upon our hills. In our 
valleys let there be laughter, and in our wigwams 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 85 

let the voices of our women and children be heard. 
Let trouble be taken away far from us ; and when 
our warriors meet together, let them smoke the 
pipe of peace and be happy. Your Brother, 

Sam Houston. 



86 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



BONNIE BLUE FLAG. 

With loyal hearts we greet you. 

Land of the star and flower, 
First ^inid your sister States yon stand 

In majesty and power. 
From North and South and East and West 

The cry resounds afar, 
Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag 

That bears a single star. 

■ CHORUS. 

Hurrah, hurrah. 
For the bonnie blue flag hurrah. 
Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag 

That bears a single star. 



For Texas is a "friend" indeed. 

And faithful to her trust; 
She welcomes upon Freedom's soil 

The true, the brave, the just. 
But should a foeman's treachery 

Attempt her rights to mar. 
We'll hoist on high the bonnie blue flag 

That bears a single star. 

CHORUS. 

[Draw the Bonnie Blue Flag.] 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

TEXAS. 

Texas^ name to us so dear, 
We love thy waters, sparkling clear, 
Boundless prairies stretching far. 
Fair country of the single star. 
"Bounteous Nature loves all lands. 
Beauty wanders everywhere, 
Footprints leaves on many sands. 
But her home is surely there. 
Angels wonder not that man 
Here would fain prolong life's span." 
Fairest child of Liberty, 
Texas, ever one and free. 

Who the Alamo would yield 
With its glorious history. 
Who would give Jacinto field 
With its wondrous victory? 
By the sword of Valor won, 
Heroes' blogd for thee was shed. 
Fairest land beneath the sun. 
Honor to thy deathless dead ; 
"Angels fold their wings and rest 
In this Eden of the West." 
Fairest child of Liberty, 
Texas, ever one and free. 



88 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

THE WAR WITHOUT ANY BLOOD. 

This was a war about the papers. One day, at 
Austin, the men, women, and children ran into the 
streets, looking very angry. 

^'What's the matter?'' said a tali hunter who 
had just come in. He saw a small cannon in the 
street, and a compcUiy of soldiers who were guard- 
ing some wagons. 

"Matter enough,'' said the men. "Old Sam has 
changed the capital back to Houston and sent for 
the papers. We won't let them go." 

Forty men with wagons came to bring the 
papers. As they were loading the boxes into the 
wagons at the Land Office, a cannon was pointed 
to the building. It was touched off by a lady, 
but no one was hurt. They got away with some 
of the papers. The wagons were overtaken and 
the papers hauled back to Austin. Some men in 
Austin shaved the manes and tails of the rogues' 
horses and drove them off. 



THE CART WAR. 

Mexicans were hired to carry goods from San 
Antonio to other towns. The merchants hired 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 89 

them, because they would work cheap. They were 
honest and did good work. 

The Texas wagoners tried to drive them out by 
saying they were going to kill them. They drove 
their oxen off. Their carts they broke up. They 
had many fights. Often the drivers were killed. 

These teamsters had a hard time. One day one 
of them went into a thicket to get a stick for an 
ox whip. While he was cutting it a lion sprang 
upon him. The man scared him away once by 
popping his whip. When he came a second time 
they were ready for him, and while he sat down 
to lick the blood off, the men got away. They had 
fresh meat, which made the wolves follow them. 
They had to frighten them away by throwing fire 
at them. 



THE BLACK AND WHITE BEANS. 

At 10 o'clock in the morning the Texans came 
marching up and gave up their arms. They had 
been wounded at Mier. After a long march they 
halted and fed their horses. Five days were spent 
in trying to make their way through the moun- 
tains. They could get neither water nor food. 
They killed and ate their horses. Many of them 
became crazy, and ran off or fell down among the 



90 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

ravines. At last ihey saw smoke, and found it to 
be a Mexican camp. Their arms had. been thrown 
away and they were too mnch worn out to fight. 
So they gave up, hoping the Mexicans would treat 
them well. 

An order came from Santa Anna that every 
tenth man should be shot. All were bound in 
irons and well guarded. How were they to find 
out who should be the tenth man ? Their plan was 
this : They were drawn up to a wall, behind 
Avhieh an officer stood with a pitcher which held 
one hundred and fifty-nine white beans and seven- 
teen black ones. The pitcher was held up so that 
those drawing could not look into it. As their 
names were called they came up and drew a bean. 
All of them while they did this looked brave and 
cheerful. The black beans meant they must die. 
The irons were taken off from those who had 
drawn them, and that evening they were led out 
to be shot. The Mexicans tied them together and 
tied handkerchiefs over their eyes. They wanted 
to stand up and be shot in front, because that 
seemed brave, but they were made to sit down upon 
a log near the Avail with their backs to the soldiers. 
There, just before dark, they were shot in turn. 
The Mexicans kept shooting until they were dead. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 91 

DEAWING BEANS. 

How would you like to draw beans for your life ? 
The Mexicans wanted to kill Captain Cameron, a 
Texan they had caught, and were in hopes that he 
would draw a black bean. To make this almost 
certain the black beans were placed on top and he 
was made to draw first, but the others came in 
order of the first letter of their names. As he 
reached for the pitcher, which was held so high 
that no one could see into it, one of the men said, 
"Dip deep. Captain.^' He no doubt had an idea 
of the job that was put up. Cameron ran his 
fingers to the bottom, and pulled out a white bean. 
The Texan s were pleased, for they all loved him. 
The drawing now went on. All "dipped deep,^' 
and it was some time before a black bean was 
drawn. 

How their hearts bled when a black bean was 
brought to light, held by a dear friend who had 
stood by them in battle or in the mountain wilds. 
Now he must die, far from home and the loved 
ones there. 

One young boy was sick and not able to stand 
in line to draw his bean, and the pitcher had to 
be carried to where he lay on a blanket. Before 
his time came to draw he told his brother that if 



92 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

he himself drew a white bean and his brother a 
black one, he wanted to be shot instead of him. 
But both drew white beans and lived to go home. 

As the drawing went on the chances for Wallace 
grew less, his letter, "W,^^ coming at the bottom 
of the list. The boys had "dipped deep" until 
nearly all the w^hite beans had been dipped out. 
When he drew there were as many black beans in 
the jar as white ones. When his time came his 
hand was so large he could hardly squeeze it down 
to the beans, and they were so scarce he scooped 
two up against the side of the jar and got them 
between his fingers and felt of them. He knew 
that the black beans were a little larger than the 
white ones. The Mexicans were watching him 
closely and told him to hurry up, and that if he 
pulled out two beans and one was black he would 
have to take it. "Big Foot" did not mind what 
they said. Life was at stake now. After feeling 
the beans a few seconds one seemed to be a little 
larger than the other, and he let it go. The one 
he pulled out was white, but he knew the other 
was black. The next two men to draw after him 
both drew black beans. The black beans were 
now all out, and the last three men on the list 
did not draw. A man turned up the jar and three 
white beans fell to the ground. The irons were 
now taken off, and the men who drew the black 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 93 

beans were led away to death. The rest were 
started for the Cily of Mexico. They were driven 
lilve cattle^ and starved. They were laughed at by 
people on the way. 

On the march, after the chains were taken off, 
Wallace made good use of his long arms. Some 
say he had the longest arms of any man they ever 
saw outside of a show. He would reach and get 
cakes and tamales from stands as they passed 
them. The owners would make a great outcry, 
but the soldiers would laugh. Sometimes they 
would meet a man carrying a tray or board of good 
things on his head. Wallace was so much taller 
than the Mexican that he could get a handful of 
things and the owner would be none the wiser. He 
could pass a cake stand and then reach back and 
get cakes from it. 

After awhile some Texans who had been sent 
to Santa Fe met with the Mier men. They were 
prisoners, too. The brave Dr. Brenham and others 
planned to kill the guard and get away from 
Salado. They knew it meant death to the first 
man to attack the guard. Brenham marched up 
and gave his life so the others could get away. 
That is the bravest thing a man can do. 



94 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



PRISONERS. 

We can not tell all these brave men suffered for 
Texas. When they were traveling in the moun- 
tains for days they had no water or food. Horses 
were killed and eaten, and they drank the blood. 
Wallace killed a inule he had taken from a Mexi- 
can, and they ate the meat and drank cupfuls of 
red blood. The horses died. All were now on 
foot. Many died amid the rocks on the top of the 
mountains. Most of the guns were thrown away. 
Some would sink down with their feet pointing 
the way they wished to go. Wallace had some 
mule meat, which he had dried in the sun. He 
would eat some of that until he got so thirsty he 
could eat it no longer. His tongue was dry. For 
five or more days he kept on without water. The 
Mexicans who were on their trail caught them at 
last. They gave them only a little water at a time 
for fear it would kill them. They were tied with 
ropes and marched in strings. 



WALLACE A PRISONER IN MEXICO. 

When they came near Mexico an order came 
from Santa Anna to shoot Cameron. That night 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 95 

they put him in a room alone. The others were 
crowded together in a small room. They thought 
that the Mexicans were going to kill their captain. 
When they were all marched out the next morn- 
ing to a tank to wash, each man filled his bosom 
full of rocks and made up his mind to fight. When 
asked why they were getting the rocks, they said 
so that they could walk better. The Mexicans said 
the captain was coming on. They heard guns 
firing, and knew that he had been shot. They 
stayed in Mexico nearly a year. They worked the 
streets in chains. Part of their work was to carry 
sand in sacks to make a fine road up a hill to 
where Santa Anna lived. Sometimes they would 
play off by punching holes in their sacks and let- 
ting the sand run out as they went along. Some 
of tliem got away by climbing a wall. The rest 
were put in a dark, damp- dungeon. The air was 
so bad that forty of them died, Wallace and 
others went wild and had to be tied down. Wal- 
lace was called the madman. As soon as he was 
able he was put to work again. Sometimes they 
were hitched twenty-five to a cart and made to 
haul rock from the mountains down to town. 
During this time the Texans let three carts get 
away from them on the side of the mountain and 
they were smashed to pieces by running off a bluff. 
One time they hitched Wallace to a cart alone to 



9G FOOTPRINTS Of TEXAS HISTORY. 

haul sand to town. Just for fun he made like he 
was scared at something ; he gave a loud snort and 
ran away. He ran against things and tore the 
cart all to pieces hefore he could be stopped. 

There was a wall five feet thick around the 
prison, but they tried to dig under it. They dug 
at night and hid the dirt as best they could. Some 
of the dirt was carried in their clothes and scat- 
tered on the streets the next day. In this w^ay 
twenty-four men got out; but the plot was found 
out before the others could go. Chains were put 
upon all of them again. They were made to work 
harder. Many weary nights now passed away, 
and clanking chains, could be heard at all hours 
of the night. Eats came into the den, and the 
Texans were so near starved that they caught and 
ate them. When the sound of a rat was heard 
hitting the floor, chains would rattle all over the 
cell, as each man was trying to catch him. 

Friends of these men in Texas were trying all 
the time to get them free. 

Santa Annans wife was a good, kind woman. 
On her deathbed she asked that he would set these 
men free, and for once in his life he kept his 
word. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



0? 




THE TEXAS SEAL. 

Do you know what the Texas seal is? What 
does the State have printed on all of the paper 
used in the capitol ? The Texas seal is formed of 
a star of five points eiicircled by olive and live-oak 
branches. Around the star and wreath "State of 
Texas" is printed. This is the way Texas signs 
her name, like you sign yours at the end of a letter 
or paper. 



[Draw a Texas seal.] 

7— History 



98 i'OOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

A TEXAS NOETHER . 

In Texas we do not often have ice or snow. So 
mild are the winters that grass stops growing only 
for a short time, and there is enough at all times 
to keep the cattle fat. The northers make the only 
winter in. Texas. 

Just before a norther it is very warm. Far to 
the north you can see a little black cloud. It lifts 
and shoots out great black arms. It seems a thing 
of life. The black cloud covers half the sky. Cat- 
tle hurry to shelter. 

Suddenly a cold wind comes down like a rushing 
flood. It seems as if it had been caged in caves of 
i'ie or swept miles over fields of snow. Before you 
can get more clothes on you are chilled. 

Let your lungs drink it in. It is full of elec- 
tricity. If you rub a cat's back in a dark corner 
after a norther, you will see a numlier of sparks 
flash from her. 

The northers come from the months of Novem- 
ber to March. 

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY. 

The North wore the blue and the South wore 
the gray. Sons fought against their fathers. .Can 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 99 

you sing Dixie, the song of the South, and Yankee 
Doodle, the song of the iSTorth? All the men and 
even the boys went to war. The mammas and 
little girls stayed at home and made their own 
cloth, shoes, and gloves. They even made cart- 
ridges. 

Drinks were made of parched potatoes, or burnt 
peas, and roots. Tea and coffee cost so much that 
only the sick could have them. 

One time during the war the men of the South 
took a ship called the "Harriet Lane" from the 
Korth. This ship was lying near the wharf at 
Galveston. The South lost only twelve men. The 
North lost one hundred and fifty men. 

There were two young soldiers hurt. One fell 
fighting for the South. The other dropped on the 
deck of the "Harriet Lane" under the shadow of 
the Stars and Stripes. The first was Sidney Sher- 
man, the son of him who fought at San Jacinto. 
He was only a boy. As he lay dying, his lips 
parted in a smile. His blue eyes grew soft and 
tender. "Break this gently to my mother," were 
his last words. 

The young soldier of the North was Edward 
Lea, on the "Harriet Lane." He heard his name 
spoken. He opened his eyes. His father, who haa 
fought for the South, was kneeling beside him. 
On this New Year's day father and son fought 
L.ofC. 



100 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

against each other. The pale face of the yOung 
man lighted with joy; and when the doctor told 
him he had but a moment to live, he said with 
his last breath, "My father is here." 

Edward's father read his burial service, as there 
was no one else to do it. 



EVEEYTHING COST MORE DURING THE 
WAR THAN^ IT DOES NOW. 

SOME WAR TIME NUMBER WORK. 

1. A soldier paid 200 dollars for his gun and 
4000 dollars for his horse. How much did both 
cost him? 

2. At 20 dollars a pound, how much coffee can 
you buy for 40 dollars? 

3. If one hat costs 120 dollars, how much 
would four hats cost? 

4. If one pair of boots for a boy costs 75 dol- 
lars, how much would two pairs cost? 

5. If it took five yards to make a little girl's 
best dress, and her mamma paid 40 dollars a yard, 
how much did the dress cost? 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 101 

YOUNG SIDNEY SHERMAN. 



Pillow his head on his flashing sword, 

Who fell ere the fight was won, 
The turf looks red where his life was poured — 

He fell beside his gun ! 

II. 

For liberty claimed his parting breath, 

And fame his last trumpet cry: 
Yes, Freedom hath torn his young name from 
Death— 

The brave can never die. 

III. 

But his life grew faint when the storm raged high. 

And ebbed with the dawning sun. 
And there on the field of victory 

He fell beside his gun ! 

IV. 

For a care will live in the father's breast. 

And a grief in the mother's eye. 
And a gloom on the silent heart will rest, 

A gloom that can never die! 



102 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 



Yes, Liberty shrired his parting breath, 

And Texas his fainting cry; 
Yes, Fame hath torn his young name from death, 

For the brave can never die ! 

VI. 

Then pillow his head on his flashing sword. 
Who fell where the field was won; 

The turf was red where his life was poured — 
He fell beside his gun. 

THE FIRST RAILROAD IN TEXAS. 

Children, you must remember Sherman not only 
as a brave soldier, but as the father of the railroad 
in Texas. The first road was named for him. 
Now we can go many miles on the train. All the 
big cities are joined by rail. 

Sherman fought in the battle of San Jacinto. 
He first gave the cry of "Remember the Alamo V 
"Remember Goliad V 

Some ladies sent Sherman's wife the flag which 
was waved at San Jacinto. It was made of white 
silk with gold fringe, and had the figure of a lady 
on it. The family kept it for years. After awhile 
they put it into a glass case, because it was so torn, 
and gave it to the State. You can see it at the 
capitol. 



Footprints of texas history. 103 



A TKUE SOLDIER. 

A. S. Johnston was a great soldier. 

Mexico did not want Texas to join her lone star 
to the United States, so the war began again. 

Johnston fought over in Mexico. The Texans 
at Monterey broke open doors, knocked down walls, 
and shot many Mexicans. The city gave up after 
three days' fighting. 

Johnston made his home in Austin for many 
years. 

He fought bravely for the South, until he re- 
ceived a wound in his leg. He did not think any- 
thing about it, until, faint with the loss of blood, 
he had to be lifted from his horse. 

He died on the battlefield, as a true soldier 
would like to die. 

death of i^LBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 



The sun was sinking o'er the battle plain. 
Where the night winds were already sighing, 

While, with smiling lips, near his war-horse slain, 
Lay a valiant chieftain dying. 



104 FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

II. 

And as he sank to his long last rest. 
The banner once o^er him streaming, 

He folded 'round his most gallant breast, 
On the couch that knows no dreaming. 

III. 

Proudly he lay on the battle field, 

On the banks of the noble river; 
And the crimson stream from his veins did yield, 

Without a pang or a quiver. 

IV. 

There were friends who came to bind his wounds, 
There were eyes o'er the warrior streaming, 

As he raised his head from the bloody ground, 
Where many a brave was dreaming. 

V. 

"Now, away," he cried, "your aid is vain. 
My soul will not brook recalling; 

I have seen the tyrant enemy slain. 
And like autumn vine leaves falling. 

VI. 

"I have seen our glorious banner wave 
O'er the tents of the enemy vanquished; 

I have drawn a sw^ord for my country brave. 
And in her cause now perish. 



FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. 105 

VII. 

"Leave me to die with the free and brave, 

On the banks of my noble river. 
Ye can give me naught but a soldier's grave, 

And a place in your hearts forever." 



THE LAND WE LOVE. 

Come, cheerful companions, unite in this song. 

Here's to the land we love. 
Let mountain and valley the echoes prolong. 

Here's to the land we love. 
We love all its woodlands and prairies so wide, 
From northernmost bound'ry to Mexico's tide; 
Here's to the land, here's to the land, 

Here's to the land we love. 

And here's to the wise and the brave and true, 

They are the friends we love. 
Their beautiful lives are for me and for you. 

They are the friends we love. 
There are Bowie and Crockett and Travis so brave. 
There's Fannin who died our country to save. 
They are the friends, they are the friends, 
They are the friends we love. 



SEP. 21 1901 



'■■^^ '08 



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Jlcxm IDistorp 







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